Duke University Archives

The Archives' Holdings
The Duke University Archives is responsible for official non-current records of the University administration. Archival records of the Duke University Medical Center are managed by the Duke University Medical Center Archives, 1408 Christian Avenue, Box 3702 DUMC, Durham, NC 27710. Tel: 919 383-2653; 919 684-6732.
We do not acquire library materials such as manuscript collections on economics or Southern history, or genealogical data on North Carolina families. Please contact Duke's Rare Books, Manuscripts and Special Collections Library if you are looking for the University's rare book and general manuscript collections (including the advertising archives).

What You Will Find in the Archives:
Records about...

...the administration and academic programs of the University.
The Archives contains official university records dating from the origin of the school as Union Institute in 1838 to the present day. Materials are received regularly from the Board of Trustees, offices of the President and Provost, the Academic Council and Arts and Sciences Council, and administrative departments such as the News Service and the Office of Science and Technology. Records of schools including Divinity, Law and the Nicholas School of the Environment, and academic departments and programs like English and Women's Studies comprise significant holdings as well, documenting the evolution of the curriculum. The Archives also acquires records of programs associated with the University, such as the Triangle Universities Computation Center (TUCC) and the Southeastern Plant Environmental Laboratories (Phytotron).

...Duke athletics.
Thanks to the efforts of Ted Mann, Duke's pioneering director of sports information, the Archives now houses over 100 linear feet of files documenting the history of revenue and non-revenue sports at the University. Records go back to the beginnings of intercollegiate football in North Carolina in 1888. The Archives also acquires game programs and films from the football and basketball offices, and the records of the Director of Athletics and the Athletic Council.

...the Campus.
Committee reports tally cubic feet and dollars and cents but a distinguished visitor, the English novelist Aldous Huxley, captured the spirit of the campus. Writing in 1937 he described traveling through "a pleasant but unexciting land" when "all of a sudden, astonishingly a whole city of grey Gothic stone emerged from the warm pine forest." He was thrilled by the "leaping tower" of the huge cathedral and the "spreading succession of quadrangles." He called the campus "genuinely beautiful, the most successful essay in neo-Gothic that I know." The Archives houses extensive information about the Duke campus and its architecture, the Duke Forest, and university facilities, including information about the history of computing in the Research Triangle area.

...life at Duke.
Records of student and employee organizations are welcome additions to the historical record. Changing student interests and activities are documented in the records of literary societies, the debate club, honorary and service organizations, performance and musical groups, fraternities and sororities, and of student government. Handbooks, official and unofficial, illustrate trends in social and intellectual life. The University Archives also develops collections about major events such as the Silent Vigil, a student protest in 1968, and on continuing themes such as residential life or the African-American experience at Duke. Faculty papers document work in academic disciplines, and often shed light on town-gown relations, student groups, and related matters in the life of the community.

We also acquire
Campus publications.
These too form part of the archival record. Researchers may consult major publications such as The Archive (the literary magazine), The Chronicle (the student newspaper), The Chanticleer (the yearbook), Duke Magazine (an alumni publication), and the official Bulletins of the university. Copies of magazines and journals sponsored by the Duke Publications Board such as Duke'n'Duchess and Latent Image, and independent publications like the Blue Devil Weekly and the Duke Review are also available. There are printed or computerized indexes to many campus publications.

and,

Audiovisual materials and memorabilia.
A significant collection of photographs, videos, motion pictures and sound recordings document all aspects of university life. See our online exhibit gallery for samples. Come to the Archives and discover the unexpected. See the Duke Grateful Dead poster or a program from the 1942 Rose Bowl football game played in Durham. Rumor has it that one may even find a piece of Columbus's flag.